Loony's Brew

Loony's Brew; Ranier, MN

On Loony's deck, overlooking Kabetogama Lake

When we started planning a short road trip to visit Voyageur's National Park, we found the one brewery within two hours a must stop - Loony's Brew. 

I had a pint of Valhalla Strong Blonde, a bold flavor.  My second pint was the Wally Light Lager, a good follow up with a fresh taste.   Tim had the Sand Bay Wheat, which was very refreshing after a long day of driving, and had the Hoppy Folly IPA; rating them 3.25 and 3.5 respectively out of 5 in his Untapped App.

 

For us, the fact that you can grab a beer, walk out on to a deck overlooking a massive lake basically in the back yard of a National Park is about as cool as it gets - rating it a 4.

When we first saw the place and the fairly large brew list, I suspected they were not all brewed by Loony's.  However, after talking with the bartender, who is part owner, he told him they indeed were all Loony's, with most selections brewed in 75 gallon batches.  Tim asked how things had been going since the pandemic, and the bartender mentioned that about 1/3 of their business came from Canadians who were not allowed to cross the border.  Hopefully the borders opening up early August will help.  He also talked about a wedding on the lake between a Canadian and an American; both border/customs agencies agreed to allow for a wedding on two pontoons tied together and anchored on the border - on the water.  Now that's love!

Wearing a Fender guitar shirt, one of the locals stopped Tim and asked if he worked there but he said he just played guitar.  Turned out the guy had worked/lived in Nashville and worked with artists such as Dolly Parton.  It's always interesting talking with the locals. 

There are no individual beer logos, but there is a unique 'up north' name for each of the brews.  The website is up to date, with detailed descriptions of each brew - you can tell these guys are serious about experimenting with different flavor profiles.  While the bartender had a pretty cool tie die Loony's shirt, we didn't see any for sale. Branding gets a 3.

Pints were $5-6 each - about average, rating Loony's a 3 for price.

Overall, Loony's is a very unique experience in a wonderful area.  Definitely will go again if we're in the area.

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Have you been to Ranier - during what season?   Have you been to Loony's?  Leave your comments below!  Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.